In the short survey I sent out a few days ago for IPD, I asked students to guess how many gallons a typical 10 minute shower uses.

Corey Cavicchi, Olin’s Associate Plant Manager, has informed me that Olin shower heads have a 2.5 gallon per minute flow (the maximum federal regulatory standard since 1994), but that facilities is “planning to install 1.5 GPM shower heads over Thanksgiving break.”

Based on this information, an average 10-minute shower uses 25 gallons of water now, but will use only 15 gallons of water after the anticipated change.

Back in March when Amos and I applied to the MassChallenge accelerator program, we had a cool idea, some initial feedback from potential customers, and a POE-level prototype showing that we could really build a usable bathroom scale for people in wheelchairs. However, when we were accepted into the program and started talking to people, it turned out that there was a lot more to learn about “the business side of things” than we thought. It’s not as simple as just building a product and selling it in an online store, and crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter are not as effective unless you’re selling to engineers (like Technical Machine) or the general population (like 3Doodler). Here are some of the major things we have internalized in the past four months of running a business:

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You are the one who moves
Who can’t sit still
There are too many tools to grab
Too many races to run
Too many sources of brilliance in this world
And you want to know them all
You want to feel the burn of your soul as it struggles to find new meaning
Its sinews stretching
Skin sweating
It will ache tomorrow
But grow back stronger

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In the fall of 2014, Olin will be removing Design Nature from the curriculum and replacing it with a new course called Statistics and Modeling. Many students lament this change, pointing out that Design Nature was their favorite course and was their first large team project.

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Hello there fellow Oliner! As one of your friendly neighborhood CORe representatives, I am here to tell you about what CORe is, does, and can be. The Council of Olin Representatives (CORe), meets every Sunday evening from 9 –10 pm in the Crescent room to discuss improving Olin and we would love for you to be part of the conversation. As you may have seen in our CORe digest, this semester we are already working on some projects including improving the GO bike fleet, replacing drumheads in the jam room, and filling student roles on committees. However, these projects are just a small part of what we currently do, and CORe has the potential to be so much more.

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Submit your photos of Olin to submit@franklyspeakingnews.com for a chance to be part of the newly revamped Frankly Speaking website, and be sure to check out the site at franklyspeakingnews.com. Submissions accepted and included on a rolling basis.

This past year, I put a lot of time and energy into finding the answers to the question “How can I get the most out of Olin, life, and love?” In last year’s SERV auction, two sophomores won an item donated by the entire class of 2013 in which the then-seniors promised to address any query to the best of their collective ability. This was the question posed, and it struck a chord with us all. Who hasn’t asked themselves at some point: “How can I be sure I’m getting things right?” Really, how can one tell? Dear reader, how do you?

I took it upon myself to track down my friends and peers in order to collect each of their responses. I can’t share what they said (it’s a trade secret, you see), but I can say what insights I gained from the process. It was an enlightening process – most SERV auction experiences are, and I suggest that any and all Oliners engage in it – and it highlighted to me the true worth of giving advice.

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